Tag: authors

I usually go to litfests to sit in the audience, not on the stage, so my recent trip to North Cornwall Book Festival was a little nerve-racking – though as it turned out there was nothing to fear, and everything to enjoy. I was involved in two events: first off I talked about my books to bestselling novelist and tirelessly hospitable festival host Patrick Gale, and then I hosted his talk about his latest book, A Place Called Winter. I also taught my first ever creative writing workshop.

There was a super-speedy blogging team from Falmouth Uni headquartered in the farmhouse – they wrote lots of great posts about the various author events and I’ve linked to several of them below – their NCBF blog is a really good whistle-stop tour of the whole experience. There are also loads more brilliant pics (thank you Dan Hall) on the NCBF FB page.

bloggers @charlottemsabin and @beakheads

North Cornwall Book Festival: authors and music galore

Moray Laing signing autographsPhoto: Dan Hall

These are the events I went to:

Dr Who expert Moray Laing on a roll-call of monsters old and new – the Weeping Angels are my scariest (just don’t blink…)

At my event, I learned that Patrick Gale and I are both childhood fans of Mary Stewart, and talked about genre (one of the themes of the weekend) – here’s a bit more about it. As for Patrick, well, he must be the world’s easiest interviewee.

Patrick GalePhoto: Dan Hall

The music at St Endellion Church was a revelation. I had to work seriously hard not to blub when Tom Hickox sang The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (a song with associations and let’s face it, it’s a weep-inducer.)

St Endellion Church

Wild Willy Barrett’s French Connection was irresistibly foot-tapping and got me in the mood for a hoedown. Missed my old cowgirl hat…

My workshop: handling romance in fiction

At my workshop we talked about the archetype of the hero’s journey, with Cinderella as an example.

We also looked at three key scenes from stories about love, and discussed how love stories are always also about something else: whatever it is that is coming between the lovers and creating dramatic tension in the story (and is the reason for the story to exist). These are the novels we looked at:

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

Photo: Dan Hall

These are the books I recommended on storytelling, writing and becoming a writer:

The Writer’s Journey – Christopher Vogler

Negotiating with the Dead – Margaret Atwood

On Writing – Stephen King

On Becoming a Novelist, The Art of Fiction – John Gardner

The Writer’s Voice – Al Alvarez

Wild Mary – Patrick Marnham

And here are some of the characters and places we came up with for our meet cute exercise, just in case someone wants to give it a go (five minutes, take two characters and a place and write their meeting). It’s amazing what it’s possible to come up with in such a short space of time and reading what you’ve written out loud is always useful (turns out Patrick Gale does this a lot when he’s working on a new book).

Characters

Lottery winner

Someone who missed last train

Ex-boyfriend

Single parent on benefits

Soldier with PTSD

Coffee barista

Dog

Santa (someone dressed as)

Ex-vicar

Bailiff

Make-up artist

Policewoman

Depressed Hollywood star

Antiques dealer

American yoga teacher

Bank robber

Weather forecaster

Places

Fancy dress party

Camping site in the rain

Traffic jam

The moor at dawn

Edge of a cliff

Therapist’s waiting room

Manhattan rooftop

Village pub

Launderette

Smoking shelter

Ferry to a Greek island

Billiard table (full-size)

Purgatory

All good things must come to an end (till next time), and come Monday morning I was spirited away from the magic of NCBF to the much more familiar (but suddenly novel) magic of home. It was lovely to get back and have a big group hug, but the festival has stayed with me and so it will remain through the winter as this treasure trove sees me through the dark, the fog and the gloom:

If you’re in Cornwall next October half-term – do go! It will set you up for the winter. Oh, and did I mention the pasties and the cakes? No? A terrible omission. NCBF is a feast of all kinds, as you’ll see when you get there.

Thanks to the festival team for exemplary organisation, Patrick Gale for inviting me and Neel Mukherjee for suggesting me.